More than 20 people were killed on Sunday as they went to receive food at an aid distribution point set up by an Israeli-backed foundation in the Gaza Strip, according to a hospital run by the Red Cross that received the bodies.
Witnesses told the Associated Press that Israeli forces had opened fire on people as they headed toward the aid distribution site run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). “There were many martyrs, including women,” the 40-year-old resident said. “We were about 300 metres away from the military.”
Media reports said dozens of people were being treated at the hospital after the latest incident at the controversial site in Rafah.
Officials at the field hospital did not say who opened fire but added that another 175 people were wounded. An Associated Press reporter saw dozens of people being treated at the hospital.
The Israel Defense Forces said they were “currently unaware” of injuries caused by their fire at the aid site, but that they were looking into it. The foundation claimed in a statement that it delivered aid “without incident” early on Sunday and has denied previous accounts of chaos and gunfire around its sites, which are in Israeli military zones where independent access is limited.
Ibrahim Abu Saoud, a witness who spoke to the Associated Press, said the Israeli military fired about 300 metres away. He said he saw many people with gunshot wounds, including a young man who he said died at the scene: “We weren’t able to help him.”
Mohammed Abu Teaima, 33, said he saw Israeli forces open fire and kill his cousin and another woman as they were heading to the hub. He said his cousin was shot in his chest and died at the scene. Many others were wounded, including his brother-in-law, he said.
“They opened heavy fire directly toward us,” he said as he was waiting outside the Red Cross field hospital for word on his wounded relative.
The hub is part of a controversial new aid system. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military, while GHF said the private security contractors guarding its sites did not fire on the crowds.
On 28 May, Hamas accused Israel of killing at least three Palestinians and wounding 46 near one of the GHF’s distribution sites, an accusation the group denied. The Israeli military said its troops fired warning shots in the area outside the compound to re-establish control as thousands of Palestinians rushed to an aid distribution site.
Israel imposed a blockade on all supplies in March, saying Hamas was seizing deliveries for its fighters, which the group denies. Earlier this month, a global hunger monitor said half a million people in the strip faced starvation.
The IPC estimated that nearly 71,000 children under the age of five were expected to be “acutely malnourished”, with 14,100 cases expected to be severe in the next 11 months.
The UN and other humanitarian organisations have rejected the new system for food distribution, saying it would not be able to meet the needs of Gaza’s 2.3 million people and allowed Israel to use food as a weapon to control the population. They have also said there was a risk of friction between Israeli troops and hungry people seeking supplies.
The organisations added that the newly formed group had no experience and so would not be able to handle the logistics of feeding more than 2 million people in a devastated combat zone, a prediction the dangerous scenes in recent days appeared to confirm.
The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa), Philippe Lazzarini, said on Wednesday that the new – US-backed – distribution model was a waste of resources and a distraction from “atrocities”.
“We already have an aid distribution system that is fit for purpose,” Lazzarini said. “The humanitarian community in Gaza, including Unrwa, is ready. We have the experience and expertise to reach people in need. Meanwhile, the clock is ticking towards famine, so humanitarian [work] must be allowed to do its life-saving work now.”
The incident comes as Hamas on Saturday said it had submitted its response containing some amendments to a proposal presented by Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, to mediators, the most concrete sign of progress towards a ceasefire since March.
The Palestinian group said in a statement that under the deal, it will release 10 living hostages and 18 bodies in return for Israel’s release of Palestinian prisoners – a change to the US’s latest proposal that will make it more difficult for Israel to resume fighting if talks on a permanent ceasefire are not completed by the end of the truce.
The updated proposal includes a demand for an end to the war, which had previously been a red line for Israel, and envisions the release of the Israelis held captive in Gaza being spread out more throughout the 60-day truce, rather than in two batches on the first and seventh day as the US offer suggested.
Witkoff responded on Saturday evening by saying the Hamas response was “totally unacceptable and only takes us backward”.
“Hamas should accept the framework proposal we put forward as the basis for proximity talks, which we can begin immediately this coming week,” he said. “That is the only way we can close a 60-day ceasefire deal in the coming days in which half of the living hostages and half of those who are deceased will come home to their families and in which we can have at the proximity talks substantive negotiations in good faith to try to reach a permanent ceasefire.”
The Israeli prime minister’s office said: “While Israel has agreed to the updated Witkoff outline for the release of our hostages, Hamas continues to adhere to its refusal … Israel will continue its action for the return of our hostages and the defeat of Hamas.”
A senior Hamas official responded that the group “did not reject” the hostage release proposal, and that Witkoff’s response to their answer was “unfair” and showed “complete bias” in favour of Israel.
Reuters and Associated Press contributed to this report
